The strongest of them all
by nightfall07
Summary: The war was near, they coul feel it, so Naruto left to train with the frogs, Kakashi to train in his own, and Sakura finds help from an unexpected source,will she accept it? what will they be fighting against? Not sure about the pairings yet.
1. Chapter 1

Hello, this is my first fanfic ever, and I speak Spanish, then: why I am I doing this? Because I want to improve my English and I think (and hope) this will help.

This story goes with the manga, it's somewhere between when Sasuke killed Itachi, talks with Madara, and Naruto is informed of Jiraiya's death, by the frog whose name I think was Fukasaku (inform me if I'm wrong), from that point, everything was made up by me.

Now, as I already told you I'm doing this to improve my English, so: if you like my story please review, if you see any grammar errors, please tell me, I welcome criticism as well. Now with the story:

I own nothing.

_Thoughts_

(AN: Author note)

It was a beautiful day in Konoha, the Sun was shining in the sky, the flowers were blooming, the birds singing and the people were starting to get out of their houses to start a new day, everything was peaceful…

-SAAAKURAAAAA-CHAAAAAAN!! OOOOOOOW!!- Too peaceful to last, the owner of the voice, a sixteen years old blonde boy, known as the number one hyperactive ninja made his entrance to the Yamanaka's Flower Shop, only to be greeted with a beautiful flying flower arrangement, made only ten minutes ago by Ino Yamanaka herself, courtesy of their best friend, a pissed pink haired girl, apprentice of the Hokage and well known for her extremely bad-temper.

-Naruto!! Why must you do that every time, my ears function well I can hear you, you know? – yelled Sakura.

-B-but Sakura-chan I only wanted to show you how happy I was - said Naruto, as an excuse for waking up the entire Fire country -, anyway baa-chan wants to see you.

-What? This was supposed to be my day off! Well anyways thanks Naruto, I'll be going after I go see my parents, bye Ino.

-Bye forehead!

-Um…well I'll be going too…bye Ino!- said Naruto.

-Hey! Where do you think you are going? You owe me $20 for the flying vase and you have to clean up the mess you left – said Ino while she gave Naruto a broom – I want all of this clean, got it?

-But! - tried to protest the boy.

-NOW!

- Awwww…maaan.

The Hokage office, the place where the most important person of the village was, the place where important decisions were made, the place where we could see a woman working hard for her village, fighting against all the paperwork that kept arriving everyday, while the Hokage was happily looking at her do her work.

-Hurry up Shizune! - ordered the Hokage.

-Isn't your turn now, Tsunade-sama? I thought we were going to switch each hour…

-Are you defying the Hokage?

-N-no, but Tsunade-sama! - Shizune sighed, why did she always have to end up doing all the work?

-Good then – but the legendary sucker was interrupted when someone knocked- come in.

-Tsunade-sama, you called? –asked Sakura, entering the room- oh, hi Shizune, why are you doing the paperwork?

-It's not like I have a choice Sakura-chan – sighed Shizune.

-Anyway Sakura – interrupted the Hokage, before Sakura and Shizune would accuse her of slavery- I have a "B" ranked mission for you, you have been called from the mist village to help the son of an important family there, they requested you specifically.

-Okay, when do I leave?

-It'd be better if you leave tomorrow the trip should take you a day at least, so you should rest today, Sakura, please be careful – started Tsunade, since Sakura's parents had died three years ago (AN: that would be during the time skip before Shippuden), Sakura had moved with her and Shizune, and the three of them had formed a little family, with Tsunade being the mother (or grandma Naruto says) and Shizune being the older sister -, I don't like the fact that they requested only you, I know you are the one of the best medic ninja in the village, besides Shizune and myself, and I know that just as Naruto has surpassed Jiraiya, you have surpassed me in fighting ability, but, there's something about this I don't like, so…

-Don't worry Tsunade-sama, I'll be fine and I'll come back, after all what would the village do if no one can control Naruto hyperactivity?- said Sakura with a smile to assure Tsunade that she would be okay- well I'm going, bye, Tsunade-sama, Shizune.-And with that she left.

The next morning Naruto awoke with a thud when someone, or something, threw him off his bed. When he was finally able to get up, now almost completely awake he realized what had happened.

-Hey, who is it? What do you want? - asked to no one, looking everywhere to see who had pushed him, until he felt a tug in his shirt.

-Look down, idiot –came a voice.

-You are…um…what was your name again? – asked Naruto looking down at the old frog.

-You are hopeless kid, my name is Fukasaku (AN: the frog that trained Jiraiya and Naruto and taught them Sage mode), and I came for you…time is over Naruto, we must start now if we want to win this war, we'll talk with Tsunade tomorrow, the you can go and say goodbye to your friends, we'll leave the next day.

Sakura was running trough the forest as fast as her legs would let her. She didn't know why, but even she couldn't feel any presences near, she had the feeling something was waiting for her. She found her answer waiting for her three hours later, near the exit of the forest, when the gates of the Mist Villages were no more than five miles away, she stopped when she saw someone standing in her path. When she finally realized who was the person in front of her she could not believe her eyes. Right in front of her was no other than the responsible of the Uchiha massacre and member of akatsuki, or former member since the last Sakura had heard he had finally died in his little brother's hands.

However no he was standing in front of her, no longer wearing his Akatsuki cloak, but a simple black one. Getting out of her daze she immediately took a defensive stance and confronted him.

-Itachi Uchiha? But you were…

-Dead? – interrupted Itachi.

-Yes, Sasuke…

-Haruno Sakura, isn't it? - cut again the Uchiha, indifference in his voice, it sounded like he didn't care at all if Sakura was listening or not- Sasuke ex-teammate and Tsunade's Apprentice, though you already surpassed her didn't you?

-How do you know that? What do you want? How are you still…? - started Sakura, she had so many questions, however Itachi ended the phrase for her.

-Alive? That's none of your concern however I might tell you if you agree to come with me, I just want to talk, the mission that was given to you was fake, I sent it to get you out of the village, I wanted to…

-Cut the crap, there's no way I'm coming with you - this time, Sakura was the one who stopped the Uchiha, she was starting to get mad, just who did he think he was? -, how can I know that it's really you, we went after Sasuke when we knew that his fight with you had ended with you dead, we heard it from an Akatsuki member that saw your fight so…

-Kunoichi, did you find my body? – inquired Itachi.

-N…

-Well here it is talking to you, does it looks dead? - asked him, sarcasm evident in his voice.

-Stop interrupting me! I have to say I'm impressed, being an Uchiha and a killer you sure talk a lot.

-Hn

Sakura couldn't help but give a pained smile, for a second it was like Sasuke was the one before her.

-Did you know that's like Sasuke's favorite phrase?  
-I'm his brother of course I know- was Itachi simple reply.

-Then why didn't you act like one?

The next thing Sakura knew, the older Uchiha had her pinned against a tree, and with a kunai in her neck. His eyes were narrowed and the next time he spoke his voice was filled with anger.

-I have my own reasons for doing what I did, if you think that I like the way Sasuke is now you are wrong,- then he released her and looked away, what he was going to say next wasn't easy for him- that's why I'm here, I need your help…

-What? Itachi Uchiha can't deal with his little brother by himself?- Sakura could not believe her ears, he was asking _her _for help?- Hey, you really are losing your…

-I'm dying.

-What? - Yeah, what? Did she just hear that? Now she was surprised but not for the fact that he was dying, but the tone he had used, he sounded so…defeated?

-I'll be dead in year or so, if I'm lucky, that's why I need to train someone, a person able to stop the sharingan…and the rinnegan if Naruto-kun failed –said Itachi waiting for her response.

-And what makes you think that _I_ would be able to do that, if Naruto can't defeat Sasuke or the leader of Akatsuki then no one can, he's way more powerful that any ninja of my group and he has the Kyubi, I have…

-Nothing, that's why you should be able to stop any bloodline, your chakra is completely pure, besides you have almost perfect chakra control, you should be able to fulfill our expectations.

-Our? You are…not alone in this? Who are the others? - inquired Sakura, fearing the rest of Akatsuki was in this, maybe they didn't want Pein, the one with the Rinnegan, as their leader so they wanted to bring him down and Sasuke could be a threat to them since they were in the same organization as Itachi, so maybe Sasuke would go for them too. Then Itachi spoke.

-No one from Akatsuki I can assure you, the person who is helping me doesn't belong to any village now, and no, she isn't a criminal either.

-Hey I didn't say I was going to help you, did I? So stop telling me your plans as if I'm going to help you to do whatever you want me to. I won't go against Sasuke at least I really have to I want to bring him back to the village, not kill him or anything.

-I never said I wanted him dead, I want to stop him from destroying the only things that are left for him.

-What do you mean? – inquired Sakura, was Sasuke planning something?

-You didn't know? –asked Itachi, but he didn't wait for a reply, he already knew Konoha had no idea about what the Akatsuki and Sasuke were planning- He is working with Pein now and they are planning to destroy the leaf village and get the Kyubi .

-What? Why? He has no reasons to…- Now Sakura was worried, what was he talking about, she knew that Sasuke had never give much thoughts about what was he going to do after killing his brother and getting his revenge, however, destroying Konoha? Yeah, right and Naruto wanted to take over the world after becoming Hokage.

-If you decide to help me I'll tell you everything. Here – Said the Uchiha as he tossed a small envelope to the girl who almost let it fall – that's for the Hokage, it says you completed your mission successfully, looks like you'll get paid for doing nothing at all – explained the man with a ironic smile but then turned serious again -. About my little plan, I'll give you a week to think about it, now it would be better if you returned to your village, you've got nothing to do here- he said pointing the direction that lead to the gates of the Mist Village.

-Uh? Wait! - Too late the older Uchiha was already gone. Leaving a very worried Sakura, with a lot of questions behind.

Somewhere else, in a room illuminated by torches, a small group was having a little discussion.

-How much time do you plan to wait? - A dark haired teen, whose black eyes were narrowed and showed annoyance, questioned.

-A year at least Sasuke, but if you want you can go tomorrow with your team and die, but I won't risk what's left of Akatsuki for a kid who thinks he can take a whole village alone. - said a man with a orange mask, that only left his right eye to be seen, and from there it had a swirling pattern on it, he was dressed in an Akatsuki robe and the only other part of his body to be seen was his spiky black hair.

-Hn, a year? That's too much time, what are we supposed to do in the meantime? – asked Sasuke.

-Well, you and your team could use that time to train, as for us we could try to find some "allies" so it's easier for us to bring Konoha down, of course they will be trained for us also, that's what we will be spending our time on. Of course if you can get us some help in finding people it would be better. – Said Tobi, who had recently revealed himself to be Madara Uchiha, one of the founder of the village they wanted to take down now, and creator of Akatsuki.

-Hn, whatever, I guess we'll wait. - with that the young Uchiha left the room- _I guess this isn't what you wanted brother, but I can't let the elders and all _the_ people who knew about the mission get away with it, just to be sure nothing would happen they killed our family, now I'll make them feel our pain._

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Fin del primer capitulo!!

Please review!!


	2. Chapter 2

Well here chapter two…even if no one reviewed the first ¬¬, anyway I changed the "-" for """ since I think it was a little messy with the "-"

Well here you go

Please review!

Tsunade sat at desk wearing a serious expression, she looked at the determined yet sad eyes of the boy…no…young man in front of her, she knew this was for the best, it was to help the village and protect his friends, as well to reach his goals, however she would miss him, as would the rest of the village, and his friends. It pained even more to think how Sakura would react to the news, those two were like siblings, yet here he was leaving her again, not that he wanted to, in a way this was necessary and they all knew it.

"Tsunade…"- called the frog in front of her.

"Yeah, I know…of course you can go Naruto, it's not like I can deny the fact that we are going to be having to fight soon, besides if Fukasaku is here offering to train you…" -

She let herself get lost on her thoughts, Fukasaku, the same frog that had trained Jiraiya, but he wasn't here anymore, he died fighting, a death suited for a shinobi, how funny, like it mattered how many honors you could get if you were dead, she had lost three loved persons already, she didn't want to lose a fourth…would Fukasaku's training be enough to stop Naruto from dying in Pain's hands? If Jiraiya couldn't…but he wasn't Jiraiya, this kid had surprised her so many times, she knew he had surpassed Jiraiya a long time ago, just as Sakura had surpassed her in what fighting concerned, he had the power to change people's hearts, he was strong, he could overcome anything…

"Baa-chan?" – called Naruto worried as the Hokage had spaced out again, it wasn't like her at all.

"I said you could go Naruto, however if you wanted to say goodbye to Sakura , that won't be possible since she left yesterday on a mission to Mist, I don't know how long it will take…"

"What!" – shouted Naruto now the sadness taking over the determination.

"I'm sorry if I had known you were leaving I would have make her go later, I'm sorry" said Tsunade, her voice also full of sadness.

"No, it's okay, I'll…write her a letter or something. Well I have to get my stuff ready now, I'll see you tomorrow?" - asked the blonde boy.

"Of course, I'll see you in the gates before you leave, now go get ready"- ordered the Hokage, of course she would be there tomorrow to see him before he left…again, she really loved the boy, he reminded her so much of her little brother, but she would do everything in her power so Naruto didn't end like him, and she would make sure he reached the title of Hokage someday.

"Hai!, see ya, baa-chan" – screamed Naruto as he left running in case the woman decided to attack him.

Tsunade let a smile adorn her face, oh, she would miss this, then again, she repeated herself that this was necessary.

"Fukasaku" – Called the woman, her face changing to a worried one – "take care of him."

"You didn't have to ask."

With his back leaning on the wall outside of the Hokage's office, Kakashi sighed loudly, so Naruto was leaving again to train, and with Jiraiya's master, no less. With everything that had happened, it wasn't a big surprise that someone had showed up to train Naruto, besides for the people who knew the kid and Jiraiya, it wasn't a secret the fact that Naruto had already surpassed the sannin, just like Sasuke had proven that he was stronger than Orochimaru, information had arrived saying that the young Uchiha has killed his master, it didn't surprised a little, after all, the Snake Sannin had underestimated Sasuke, Orochimaru thought he was the one using Sasuke, when it was the other way around, and the Sannin had to pay his error with his life.

When Kakashi decided to pass Team Seven and started to train them, his life seemed to change for the better, he remembered his first impressions of them, Naruto Uzumaki, the Kyubi's host, a blonde boy obsessed with ramen, who was the son of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, Kakashi's teacher. At first the boy didn't show any special abilities, besides the fact that he had great chakra reserves, thank to the Nine Tailed Fox and healed at incredible rate, he had even failed the exam to graduate from the academy, however the kid who couldn't make the simple clones to pass the test, was able to learn in record time to create shadow clones, and a great number of them, since that moment the kid started to grow fast, the battle in the Naruto Bridge, the Chuunin Exams, when he stopped the Ichibi (Gaara's ex-demon), and then, his fight with Sasuke in the Valley of the End. After that, no longer his student, he trained under Jiraiya, and when he came back, change was evident, even though he was still childish for the most, he had grown from a boy to a young man, not only was he way stronger than before, he had matured, yet he still had that positive attitude that characterized him. However Kakashi couldn't help but feel guilt, after all if Naruto was one of the strongest ninjas now, he knew it wasn't for his duty as a teacher, after all he had always favored Sasuke…

Sasuke…when Kakashi knew he was going to have the last of the Uchihas in his new team, he knew it would be easy to make the boy trust him, he had seen the Uchiha brothers interact when he was an Anbu and he had seen Sasuke admiration and love for his brother, but it all ended when it happened, and the happy boy turned into a cold, distant teen, however Kakashi never thought that Sasuke's desire for revenge would make him go as far as to betray the whole village, he had seen the boy annoyance upon being placed on a team, the kid thought his teammates weren't good enough, but in the end, he ended accepting both of his teammates as friends, Sasuke cared for them, and Naruto proved to be a good rival, however Naruto started getting stronger faster than Sasuke, and the Uchiha kid thought Konoha was holding him back, then, he left. When that happened Kakashi felt lost, the one student he had really paid attention, and he betrayed them, he had paid Sasuke more attention than his other two students put together, he had tried to show him he was not alone, he had taught him the Chidori, Kakashi's own technique, so Sasuke had the tools to reach his goals, even if Kakashi didn't like the fact Sasuke had revenge as his first preoccupation, but it was for nothing, Sasuke left anyways, and Kakashi asked himself where did he fail as his teacher. When he received word his team had found the Uchiha, and had failed to bring him back as Sasuke had showed to reach a whole new level, he felt sorry for his team, after all, the dark haired teen had really gotten stronger, even if it was at the cost of going with the enemy, or with the help of the cursed seal, he had gotten stronger, stronger enough to finally kill his brother, and Kakashi now wondered what was left for the Uchiha now. However he couldn't deny that Sasuke's defection had served to open the eyes of his ex-teammates, he gave them a reason to get stronger, so they could bring him back, if Naruto had surpassed Jiraiya now, it was thank to the efforts the blonde loudmouth, had put in his training to bring back his best friend, same with Sakura…

Whenever he thought of her, he had the urge to hit his head with something and go with her to tell her he was sorry, after all, she was the one who made him feel guilty the most, if he had failed someone then it had to be her, as a teacher, he never taught her anything, after all, the tree-walking exercise was something you could read about in a book, and try it anywhere, and when she has showed them she could do it on her first try, he immediately said it was because she had less chakra than her teammates, that's why she was able to do it at her first try, but, after how many tries did he, Kakashi, managed to get the same results? Five, and that was already considered fast. But what did it matter if the girl had an almost perfect chakra control when he had the Kyubi's host, with his great chakra reserves, and Sasuke Uchiha, a little genius, in his team? He never paid attention to her, first he favored Sasuke, and when he betrayed them, and Naruto left the village to train, he decided to train himself, so the Hokage took her only student left, then when Naruto came back, and he saw how much the little girl had changed, he felt the guilt eat him from the inside, what had he ever taught her? Nothing, but luckily, Tsunade saw the potential in her and taught Sakura all she knew, making use of her almost perfect chakra control, she taught her to use those punches that could make the ground tremble, but also taught her to heal, a mini-Tsunade as Jiraiya had said once, but Kakashi now could see more than that, Sakura had trained with Lee (so that included Gai), Tenten, Kurenai, Ino (and it looked like the two were again best friends), Hinata (giving the girl a personality boost that only disappeared when Naruto was near), even Neji had trained with her a few times, and now it looked like also Sai was helping her (and she was helping her in his study about people's emotions).

But Kakashi even after seeing his error of pushing her aside, did not try to get near her with intentions to help her to train, in Naruto's case he had found self-forgiveness when he helped him to develop the Rasen-shuriken, to him it felt like the first time he had taught the blonde boy something, but with Sakura he never found the courage to go with her and offer his help, it's not like they didn't see each other anymore, but their relationship was now nothing else that a little friendship, she had even stopped calling him "Kakashi-sensei", true, he had told her and Naruto to stop calling him that, but Naruto still did, and he really liked being called that.

_Maybe, that's the reason why I never let a Team pass before_. -Thought Kakashi- _I knew I wasn't mean to be one, and the proof is that the only team that managed to pass the test, is not a team anymore, somehow, I failed them all…_

The next day Naruto stood at the gates, Fukasaku by his side, they were ready to go.

"Well baa-chan, take care of the village while I'm not here"- said Naruto with a grin in his face, he had already said goodbye almost to everyone, but he couldn't find Kakashi anywhere yesterday, he smiled as he remembered almost all of his friend wishing him luck, Hinata blushing, kissing him on the cheek (which surprised everyone) and then passing out only to be carried away by Kiba who wished him luck and ordered Akamaru to tackle him and then they were gone, Lee's speech about the youthfulness within Naruto for him to embark in such a youthful journey, but then before anyone could fall asleep he was dragged away by Tenten, Neji followed shortly after telling him he would be looking forward to fight with him when he returned, Shino who told him to not forget his name (like he did when he returned from his trip with Jiraiya), Chouji telling him he would eat Ramen for both of them, Shikamaru finding all of this troublesome and telling him to come back soon because a shinobi less meant more work for the ones left, and Ino's glare, but she wished him luck anyway, Naruto knew why she was mad, it was because she didn't like the fact that he was leaving Sakura again, she had told him that he could have waited at least a week, Sakura would probably be back in that time, Naruto really wanted to do that, but the old frog had told him that they had to leave now, leaving him no other choice.

"Of course I will, and Fukasaku…you could try to teach him some respect, now that would be great" – however as she said this a smile was on her face.

"Ooooh don't be mean, granny" – said Naruto starting to move away.

"Why you…come here!"- starting to go after him, but she was stopped by a puff of smoke.

"Well looks like I made it just on time…"- Kakashi had appeared at last to say goodbye to his student.

"Kakashi-sensei!! I couldn't find you yesterday!! Where were you?"- exclaimed Naruto, happy since he was going to be able to say goodbye to him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but there were some…thing that needed to be taken care of – said Kakashi with a smile"- Naruto, I want you to know that I'm proud of you, and not only as your teacher, and I know you will be Hokage someday so, take care, and give your best.

"Kakashi-sensei…thank you, and of course I will, when I come back I'll be stronger, and then we'll bring Sasuke back, believe it!" – said Naruto grinning widely, then he got serious- "Tsunade-sama" – he said surprising everyone for showing respect for once-" this "– he explained as he gave her a letter- "is for Sakura-chan, please give t to her when she gets back, and tell her that I'm really sorry."

"I will" – she looked at him, he really had grown up a lot, the she hugged him and kissed his forehead as she had some years ago, Naruto returned the hug- take care little idiot – but there was no offense in her words-" get stronger so you can be the best Hokage someday."

"Thanks, obaa-chan" - he said smiling, then he looked at them, Tsunade, Kakashi and Shizune, who was falling asleep a little behind- "I'll get stronger, then when teme is back I'll be the next Hokage" – he looked at the village a last time and looked at Fukasaku, who turned around and started moving – "see you later, Shizune-oneechan, obaa-chan, Kakashi-sensei"- then he turned around and went after Fukasaku.

"Goodbye Naruto-kun!"– exclaimed Shizune as she realized Naruto was leaving now. Kakashi jus disappeared in a puff of smoke. And Tsunade stood in the gates watching Naruto disappear trough the forest, and the Naruto Uzumaki was gone.

Tsunade looked up at the sky. _I hope you look after him, Jiraiya._

Fin del segundo capítulo!

Oh, almost forgot, if you review, please tell me who would you rather have paired with Sakura: Naruto or Sasuke, should I include a little ItaSaku somewhere?


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